iRobot’s (IRBT) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

Separately, StockNews.com raised iRobot from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday.

iRobot Stock Performance

NASDAQ IRBT opened at $8.85 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.43. iRobot has a 12-month low of $5.83 and a 12-month high of $28.09. The company has a market cap of $270.46 million, a P/E ratio of -1.92 and a beta of 0.80.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.09. iRobot had a negative net margin of 16.15% and a negative return on equity of 100.79%. The company had revenue of $193.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.41 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($3.09) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that iRobot will post -5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in iRobot by 2,712.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 400,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,480,000 after purchasing an additional 386,189 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of iRobot by 131.1% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 79,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 337,057 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in iRobot during the third quarter valued at about $1,556,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in iRobot by 185.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 196,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,789,000 after buying an additional 127,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in iRobot by 234.2% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 73,597 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $640,000 after acquiring an additional 51,575 shares during the period. 77.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About iRobot

iRobot Corporation designs, builds, and sells robots and home innovation products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and internationally. The company offers floor care products, including Roomba floor vacuuming robots; Roomba accessories and consumables, such as the Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal, replacement dirt disposal bags for the Clean Base, filters, brushes, and batteries; Braava family of automatic floor mopping robots; and Braava accessories and consumables, which include cleaning solution, washable and disposable mopping pads, replacement tanks, and batteries, as well as subscription services.